JOSEPH HAUER

Real Name: Major Joseph Hauer

Identity/Class: Human mutate, U.K. citizen

Occupation: Adventurer, formerly a pawn of the British Government, and before that an S.A.S. Captain in the Falklands war.

Group Membership: Super Soldiers

Affiliations: Captain America, Captain Britain, Contessa Valentina Allegro de Fontaine, Commander Lance Hunter, Mercy Corporation, Dr Jahved Khan (deceased), Mr. Stasser, Alistaire Stuart, Union Jack, U.S. Agent (after the traditional super-hero infighting!), Sarah Wilde, Pete Wisdom

Enemies: Empire Chemical Enterprises (ECE), Childs (Revenge,deceased), Sir Marcus Grantby-Fox, Hydra, Warlord (Huang Zhu), Mandarin, Shinobi Shaw

Known Relatives: Dutch refugee father (unnamed)

Aliases: Invincible

Base of Operations: Mobile, formerly various ECE safe houses in the U.K.; Mercy Science Central, Alaska

First Appearance: Super Soldiers#1(April, 1993);

Powers/Abilities: Hauer has undergone physical enhancements to make him a super soldier. He has enhanced human strength (class 10) and a remarkable endurance. His appendix has been replaced with a genetically engineered drug-producing organ. When Hauer is exited the organ produces "Red", an amphetamine to improve his performance in combat. It can also produce "White" to bring him down and "Blue" to keep him calm and relaxed once the amphetamine high is over. He also heals faster than most humans.

Equipment: Chobham plate body armour, head mounted targeting system, twin .44 automags (Teflon dum dums), adamantium combat knife, kevlar helmet, fire proof fatigues, shock boots, royal Enfield X-4 retaliator (with depleted uranium armour piercing rounds, grenade launcher and laser range-finder)

Limitations: Previously Hauer had undergone brain operations, hypnosis and been subjected to ultra low frequency sound to make him controllable and induce amnesia, however the treatments required regular application so this no longer applies.

History: (Super Soldiers#1(fb)/2(fb)) - Captain Joseph Hauer had been subjected to a super soldier program similar to the one Nuke had been through, developed by Khan himself and four others: Doctors Stratton, McDonald, Ogilvey and Brown. Dr Khan had then given him a genetically altered organ to control his moods and increase his fighting ability by producing the same drugs that the pill-popping Nuke had used. Apparently there had been six British Super Soldiers: Hauer, Childs, Dalton, Turner, Wright, Black--ran by the cabinet and answering only to the prime minister.
Around the time Nuke had died after having fought Daredevil and Captain America, the British super soldier program was cancelled and Hauer was placed in suspended animation. However this was not before their last mission, which had been on the Thai/Cambodian border. Childs, had become addicted to the "Reds" and developed increasingly violent tendencies. Childs had lost control again, killing his companions, but Hauer remembered Dalton limping away.Hauer had returned badly injured and the others where all (presumed) dead.
Dr Khan's break through in genetically engineered organs was quashed by Whitehall for reasons of "National Security" and the other scientists on the program were killed when they tried to go public with them. Details of a mission against I.R.A. terrorists where Childs lost control and shot an innocent man stirred Hauers memories.

(Super Soldiers#1-5) - Captain Joseph Hauer awoke from a cryogenic tube at the ECE biological warfare research centre, Orgely, England, with no memory of who he was. Raiding the armoury he quickly escaped, commandeering the vehicle of one Sarah Wilde, a journalist. After blasting his way through a military blockade, his new journalist friend took him to see Doctor Javed Khan. Dr Khan started to fill in the gaps in Hauer's memory, but was killed by Childs as a group of S.A.S soldiers closed in to attack.

Hauer escaped, and traveled to the Yorkshire moors to find the Super Soldier control centre from Kahn's notes. Sarah hacked into the records in the command centre, and filled in the remaining gaps in Hauer's memory.

Hauer and Sarah traveled to Thailand to a Buddhist temple where Dalton had been nursed to health. He had succeeded in breaking his programing, and had learned to control his "Red" and "White" moods through the teachings of the buddhist monks. He had developed limited telepathic abilities such as astral projection eventually becoming worshipped by the monks.

Meanwhile Sir Marcus had contacted Henry Gyrich who in turn had sent the U.S. Agent to capture Hauer, convincing him that the British Super Soldier was a "commie traitor". Sir Marcus had also reactivated his corporate commando unit of super soldier test subjects, a group of Welsh guardsmen and put them in the care of Childs. U.S. Agent attacked Hauer believing him to be a traitor, until the Welsh Squadies attacked. Using his advanced deductive skills ("They shot you! Then that means they're not on your side."), U.S. Agent decided that maybe he had been lied to and finally sided with Hauer and Dalton.

They quickly won the battle, and Hauer finished off the unconscious Squadies shooting them in the back, leaving only the one named Gog. Gog had had his controlling implant removed, and when Dalton telepathically broke his conditioning, Hauer quickly recruited him for a raid on E.C.E's headquarters.

Hauer led Gog, U.S. Agent, Dalton and Sarah to an old safe house in order to hack into the computers, catching a ride in U.S. Agents Quinjet. When Sarah's hacking skills failed her, she convinced Dalton to link telepathically with the E.C.E databanks. While he was booted out by the defence programs, he learnt that the E.C.E. headquarters was protected by hi-tech A.I.M. defence systems. U.S. Agent contacted "another super soldier" friend of his, setting up for the inevitable crossover. Hauer raided the armoury and he and his motley crew set out for Canary Wharf.

Once inside the building, Hauer separated from the team in order to reach the top floor. Sarah tagged along to get her story, ending up getting shot by Childs (she'd have made a great Doctor Who companion). Hauer proceeded to wipe the floor with Childs posterior, slicing his right hand off with his adamantium combat knife, and then throwing him out of the window. Childs narrowly survived the great fall, only to be run over by a train.

Breaking into sir Marcus's office, Hauer was still seeing red (quite literally, see under powers) and threatened to kill the man. Cue dramatic entrance from one Captain America, U.S. Agents old Super Soldier friend (ever heard of this guy?). Hauer decided he couldn't kill in cold blood, as he would be no better than Childs. Later, upon visiting Hauer's grave, Cap gave Joseph advice and encouragement on readjusting after reawakening from being in suspended animation so long.

(Super Soldiers#6-7) - Hauer and his companions were recruited by SHIELD (Strategis Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate) to capture the Warlord, Huang Zhu, who was working with HYDRA, and hosting a martial arts tournament in the Savage Land. SHIELD and the Super Soldiers broke up the HYDRA operation, which involved the creations of some genetically engineered "super-poppies" (synthetic opium-derivative). Unbeknownst to them, the information they gained had been leaked by the Mandarin and Shinobi Shaw, who wished to have HYDRA's operation eliminated for their own reasons.
As a result of this adventure, the Super Soldiers gained three new members: Dragonfly, Guvnor, Xantia

(Super Soldiers#8) - The funding for the Super Soldiers was cut by the Cabinet Office, and so they were sold to the Mercy Corporation, which had their own corps of super-soldiers. Hauer and the other Super Soldiers were relocated to Mercy's base in Alaska, where they were tossed in with Mercy's group of malcontents and tested for future missions.

They next faced the ultimate threat: Cancellation of their comic!
Unfortunately the Super Soldiers have not been seen since...(except for Hauer)

Well except Captain America that is.

(Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1) - Hauer, Wisdom, Captain Britain and Union Jack were briefed on the details of the British Superhuman Registration Act by Contessa Valentina Allegro de Fontaine, Alistaire Stuart and Commander Lance Hunter.

Comments: Created by Lee Stevens and Andrew Currie, for Marvel Uk

All in all the Super Soldiers stories had great potential, I enjoyed rereading them while doing this profile. I was not a huge fan of Captain America at the time I first read these stories, but his appearance in this is quite possibly my favourite. And he doesn't even throw a punch! Hauer and co were great fun to read its a shame that Marvel Uk these days are limited to reprints of mainstream U.S. titles such as Spider-man and the X-Men (where us brits all seem to talk like Chamber for some reason). Some of these stories and others were collected in the Marvel UK publication Overkill which ran for fifty two issues before being cancelled.

Super-Soldiers#9 and 10 were scheduled to be part of the "Red Mist" cross-over storyline, which never came out. It involved a virus accidentally induced in government's super soldier program, set have run thru new series Death Duty, 'Roid Rage, and Bloodrush, as well as Wild Thing#9+10. Super-Soldiers#9 would also have featured the Punisher (Frank Castle).--Snood.

I think that the "Joseph Hauer" at Maruthea in Incomplete Death's Head#11-12 is a misidentified Tigon Liger.
--Changeling